Denali National Park, Alaska

How Denali National Park is governed

Denali National Park appears to be an unincorporated community or a census-designated place, so it may have no city government of its own — services usually come from the county. The chart below is a generic template; readers can correct it if Denali National Park does have local officials.

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0 of 14 positions listed. Gray dashed boxes are placeholders waiting for a name.

• Mayor

  Executive

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  The city's chief elected official. Presides over the executive branch, proposes the budget and represents the city.

  • City Manager / Administrator

    Executive

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    The professional administrator who runs day-to-day operations (in some cities appointed by the council instead of the mayor).

    • Police Chief

      Administration & departments

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      Leads the police department.

    • Fire Chief

      Administration & departments

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      Leads the fire and emergency services department.

    • Public Works Director

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      Streets, water, sewer, and city buildings.

    • Finance Director

      Administration & departments

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      The budget, taxes, and city accounts.

    • Planning & Zoning Director

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      Land use, zoning, building permits.

    • Parks & Recreation Director

      Administration & departments

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      Parks, programs, and public facilities.

• City Council

  Legislative

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  The elected body that passes ordinances, sets the tax rate and approves the budget.

  • City Clerk

    Administration & departments

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    Keeps the official records, runs meeting agendas and, often, local elections.

  • City Attorney

    Administration & departments

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    The city's lawyer; advises officials and prosecutes ordinance violations.

  • Boards & Commissions

    Legislative

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    Citizen advisory bodies, such as planning, zoning appeals and library boards.

• Municipal Court

  Judicial

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  Hears traffic, ordinance and other minor cases.

  • Municipal Judge

    Judicial

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    Presides over the municipal court.

Website

nps.gov/dena

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History

Prehistory and protohistory

Human habitation in the Denali Region extends back more than 11,000 years, with documented sites just outside the park boundaries dating back more than 8,000 years. However, relatively few archaeological sites have been documented within the park boundaries, owing to the region's high elevation, harsh winter conditions, and scarce resources compared to lower elevations. The oldest site within park boundaries is the Teklanika River site, dated to about 7130 BC. More than 84 archaeological sites have been documented within the park. The sites are typically characterized as hunting camps rather than settlements and provide little cultural context. The presence of Athabaskan peoples in the region is dated to 1,500 - 1,000 years before present on linguistic and archaeological evidence, while researchers have proposed that Athabaskans may have inhabited the area for thousands of years before then. The principal groups in the park area in the last 500 years include the Koyukon, Tanana, and Dena'ina people.

Establishment of the park

In 1906, conservationist Charles Alexander Sheldon proposed preserving the Denali region as a national park. He presented the plan to his co-members of the Boone and Crockett Club. They decided that the political climate at the time was unfavorable for congressional action and that the best hope of success rested on the approval and support of the Alaskans themselves. Sheldon wrote, "The first step was to secure the approval and cooperation of the delegate who represented Alaska in Congress."

In October 1915, Sheldon took up the matter with E. W. Nelson of the Biological Survey at Washington, D.C., and with George Bird Grinnell, to introduce a suitable bill in the coming session of Congress. The matter was then presented to the Game Committee of the Boone and Crockett Club and, after a full discussion, the committee endorsed it.

On December 3, 1915, the plan was presented to Alaska's delegate, James Wickersham, who, after some deliberation, gave his approval. The plan was then presented to the executive committee of the Boone and Crockett Club and, on December 15, 1915, was unanimously accepted. The plan was thereupon endorsed by the club and presented to Stephen Mather, Assistant Secretary of the Interior in Washington, D.C., who immediately approved it.

The bill was introduced in April 1916 by Delegate Wickersham in the House and by Senator Key Pittman of Nevada in the Senate. Much lobbying took place the following year, and on February 19, 1917, the bill passed. On February 26, 1917, 11 years after its conception, the bill was signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson, thereby creating Mount McKinley National Park.

A portion of Denali, excluding the summit, was included in the original park boundary. The boundary was expanded in 1922 and again in 1932 and 1947 to include the area of the hotel and railroad.

On Thanksgiving Day in 1921, the Mount McKinley Park Hotel opened. In July 1923, President Warren Harding stopped at McKinley Park Station, site of the Mount McKinley Park Hotel, while touring the length of the Alaska Railroad as part of his Voyage of Understanding tour; he drove a golden spike marking the railroad's completion at Nenana on July 15, 1923. The flat-roofed, two-story log building had open balconies, glazed windows, and electric lighting. Inside were about two dozen guest rooms along with a store, lunch counter, kitchen, and storeroom. Guests in the 1930s reported vermin, soiled linen, drafty rooms, and poor food. The hotel closed later that decade as trade shifted to lodgings deeper in the park, such as Savage Camp. After being abandoned for many years, the hotel was destroyed in 1972 by a fire.

Fourteen log cabins were built in the late 1920s and early 1930s as a network of shelters for patrolling park rangers throughout the park. They were listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

The 93 mi (150 km) Park Road was completed in 1938 after 17 years of construction.

There was no road access to the park entrance until 1957 when the Denali Highway opened; park attendance greatly expanded: there were 5,000 visitors in 1956 and 25,000 visitors by 1958. In 1971, the George Parks Highway, under piecemeal construction for several years, was completed, providing direct highway connections to Anchorage and Fairbanks. Visitation doubled to 88,000 from 1971 to 1972. With the increase in visitors, the park closed most of the Park Road that year to private vehicles and required visitors to take shuttle buses.

In 1967, the park was the site of one of the deadliest mountaineering accidents in the United States with the Mount McKinley disaster, where seven climbers died in an intense blizzard on Denali. The Park Service debated closing the mountain to climbing in the wake of the accident, but ultimately decided to keep it open.

The park was designated an international biosphere reserve in 1976. A surrounding Denali National Monument was proclaimed by President Jimmy Carter on December 1, 1978, which was combined with the park in 1980.

Naming dispute

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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